Want to learn about the top business & marketing strategies of 2012?

This weeks blog post and also the last one for the year will help you learn about various business strategies like Backlinking, Blogging, Branding, Email Marketing, Networking, Leadership and Social Media.

It’s a lot to take in in one visit, so make sure you bookmark this page, it will definitely come in handy as you start 2013.

Here we go, here are the 10 Blog Posts of 2012 to learn about business and marketing.

Today, businesses are learning new ways to enhance their blogs to get better results by attracting more and more customers. As per a study, those businesses who have blogs get 55 percent more traffic as compared to the ones without the blogs. However, businesses who have blogs, which fail to think outside the box. They are simply seen flooding their blogs with dry updates and happenings of their businesses. This is among the most common mistakes, which businesses today are seen committing. Hence, there is a scope for improving and enhancing your blogging efforts, which could help to improve your business. The following are some of the ways, in which you can improve your business through blogging.

A company without a website depends on people residing in the same community to earn a profit. Your business can reach a significantly larger customer base, increasing your bottom line through internet strategies.

Overhead is less, since the company can ship directly from the factory or warehouse rather than going through the retail store. If your company is a supplier that sells business-to-business, you will reach a global audience with a website.

Keeping a small business flourishing in a bad economy often proves to be a difficult task. Are you searching for ways to make your business more productive? Being an owner of a small business in this day and time often means working long hours and finding promising solutions to problems that threaten to sink the business.

Listed below are 20 productivity tips that will help keep your small business on top.

There are times in a company’s lifeline where an overhaul of its look and image is needed. Whether it is to keep up with the times, try a new direction, or re-establish its current purpose, change may be a good thing. Before you decide if your company could use a change for the better, here are a few things to look at.

What to consider before changing the look of your company:

The main function of a business is to make profits. Once you discover that your company is incurring losses, it is high time that you look for strategic plans to improve the organizational and structural set up of your company. There are a number of ways you can do this.

Businesses within the retail industry are, particularly in these desperate times, always searching for a competitive edge over their rivals. Whether this be pricing, new products or the latest sales campaign, no stone is left unturned. Another such area is the use of psychological tricks to get us to put more of our money into their tills. Some are as old as retail itself, others are more recent. We ought, as consumers, to be aware of these tricks by now, but often this is not the case.

So, here is a list of classic retail psychology tricks:

The long and winding aisles

It’s annoying when you pop into the supermarket just for a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk and have to walk all the way to the far corner isn’t it? Yep, it’s done for a reason. By making you trudge past those endless rows of curry sauce, organic lettuce and frozen burgers supermarkets increase their sales. Shoppers get their heads turned and buy something else on a whim, so frankly they’ve no one else to blame but themselves.

What is the key to a successful business partnership?

In order for a business enterprise to grow and gain more market share the development of a successful business partnership will be necessary.

One simply cannot do all the work necessary if growth is to take place. Next to outsourcing, forming a business partnerships is the most efficient and cost effective method for multiplying individual effort.

Here are 7 essential qualities of every successful business partnership which can be used as guidelines to help a business partnership more productive.

Increasing customer loyalty to the company should be the primary objective of any manager in today’s increasingly competitive environment.

Every company relies mainly on its fixed customers and endeavors to increase the number of such clients. Loyal customers are not customers of the company because there is nowhere else to buy the same or similar product or service, but because they are satisfied with the quality, the price of the product and the attitudes of traders aimed at satisfying their needs.

The main goal of customer loyalty programs is to retain customers that have shopped with the merchant once or several times. The main reason clients continue to come back is not the amount of discounts they get as much as the trust between the merchant and the customer.

If you are the owner of a small business, you probably don’t have much to spend on marketing. However, it is a fact that many small businesses fail to take advantage of the opportunities that exist for marketing their businesses in simple ways that cost nothing or little to implement.

There are several things you can do to take advantage of existing contact points with customers and prospects that will be beneficial in promoting your business, services and products. These methods include the following:

7 Simple Marketing Strategies

1. Business Cards

With very little money, you can make simple cards that promote your business. Interestingly, many businesses don’t use this great method of promoting their business, special offers or products. When ordering business cards, consider how you can utilize the space effectively. For instance, a business card should include the website address which one can use to access free information, resources, product demos and tools. You could also include a coupon in your business card as an incentive.

2. Invoices

Do you send out invoices electronically or in print? Invoices are ideal for promoting a brand, service or product. They also give you an opportunity to thank your customers and inform them about other things that you offer. An effective message for your invoice could be, “Thank you for doing business with us. For more information about our products, call……..”. This message can enhance awareness and get your customers attention.

3. Emails

Nothing in marketing is as effective as a list of customer emails. The customers who volunteer their email addresses are interested in hearing from you. Do your best to motivate customers to offer their email addresses. You could provide a small incentive such as a branded pen or free information. Once you build an email list, communicate with your customers regularly and seek more business from them. If customers are satisfied, they are likely to spread word about you, thus growing your customer base.

4. Thank you notes

When you make a sale, insert a brief thank you note offering your gratitude and desire to do long term business with the customer. You could also enclose your latest flier or catalog. This will go a long way in demonstrating your appreciation for your customer and expressing interest in establishing a long term relationship.

5. Online coupons or offers

When you are offering a particular product or service, you should have information concerning it on your site. In addition, offer your prospective customers an incentive. When visitors to your website take an interest in your service or product, offering an incentive can drive significant response rates. This is a strategy that I have used in my diet blog to promote Nutrisystem discounts and Medifast coupons.

6. Free samples

Giving free samples is a very effective marketing strategy. Even when you are offering a service, you could provide a way of prospective buyers to try out your service at no cost. This can lead to more trials and conversions.

7. Encourage referrals

Small businesses which take advantage of the power of referrals enjoy strong growth. When others suggest your services or products, it’s like having your own sales team. Referrals are powerful because the prospective customer is being urged to buy from an already existing associate, customer, influencer or expert.

How will these simple marketing strategies help your business success?

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Welcome to Learn About

I'm John Komatsoulis the founder of Learn About LLC. If you're looking to grow your business with Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing, SEO or Mobile Marketing, you've come to the right place. Call me today at 484-661-7411 or you can request a free 60 minute call at JohnKoma.com